Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Our Monday, May 5 arrival in Norfolk (actually
Tidewater Yacht Marina in Portsmouth, across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk),
was a day or two earlier than even we had planned. We had expected
an eight day ICW run to Norfolk but arrived on Day Seven.

By 11:00 on Day Eight, we were in a rental car and
on the road to New Orleans for a Mothers Day Weekend baby shower. At about
1,000 miles from Portsmouth to NOLA, we were going to cover that distance in
two days. That same distance (Key Largo to Portsmouth) took us ten
days by boat. And three of those days were counted at 24 hours each!

It was good to tie up, close up and walk away for a
bit though. We have been on the water non-stop (mostly) since August 22. Our
road trip would take us through Virginia, across North Carolina and South
Carolina, then Georgia and Alabama, and finally along the Mississippi Gulfcoast
into Louisiana. A good chunk of the Old South.

As we approached Colombia, South Carolina we
realized we might be able to snag a couple of USC Colombia professors and their
precocious four year old for a dinner date. Alas, four year olds and their
parents eat dinner early. But we did stop by their house for a nice hour long
visit and demonstration of Issac's electrical engineering skills. It
was so great to see Ellen and John and Issac even for that short time. A taste
of home.

Group shot!

An overnight en route and into NOLA in time for
dinner with Charlie and Tabby on Wednesday. Nice to really be "home"
again. Thursday and Friday were work days for all of us, but what a great time
to catch up and relax and be a family. With Katie's arrival from Baltimore and
Joe & Mary Margaret from Austin on Friday evening, it was just like old
times. And all excited for our soon to arrive first grandchild! Truly a
memorable Mothers Day for all of us.

Charlie test drives the Drone.

Last time indoors (we hope)!

Charlie & Andrew get the Drone up and running in Audubon Park.

There she goes,….

Great control.

View from the Drone.

By the following Tuesday we were back in
Portsmouth. A stop for dinner in historic Madison, Georgia where there are over
200 antebellum homes untouched by Sherman's Ride to Atlanta. Apparently,
Sherman had a West Point classmate who's brother was a pro-Union United States
Senator from Madison, and in deference to his classmate and the Senator,
Madison was spared the Scourge of the South. Beautiful town!

Madison, Georgia.

Though there was a fleeting thought of leaving
Portsmouth upon arrival on Tuesday night in order to take advantage of the
weather and beat an expected Thursday night cold front (it is usually a three
day trip up the Chesapeake), some well deserved sleeping overruled that thought.
Nevertheless, we were off by 8:30 Wednesday morning despite the fog in the
Elizabeth River. That fog got worse two hours later as we approached the mouth
of the Bay (at which time our radar stopped working). We decided to pull into
the harbor at Willoughby Bay near Ft. Monroe and wait for the fog to lift. I
used that time to check connections on the radar and found nothing that looked
out of place. A call to the manufacturer (in Merrimack, NH) got a technician on
the phone for some troubleshooting. The diagnostics he ran with me showed no
electrical or electronic issues, so he concluded that we had a mechanical
problem. Most likely, he thought that the belt that turns the rotor in the
radome (45 feet up the mast) had slipped. Not being in a position to climb the
mast, we waited out the fog until noon.

Back on the Bay, the fog was coming and going. NOAA
expected bad fog in the Lower Bay that evening, so we decided to make as much
headway as possible and do a 20 hour overnight to Baltimore.

Despite the fog, it was an un eventful passage. We
kept to the Western Shore out of the main traffic lanes and channels. We also
benefitted from AIS ship reports throughout the night from Hayden on s/v Island
Spirt, another Island Packet. We only "saw" one of the she so
reported, and only barely. We never saw the Bay Bridge in Annapolis until we
were just about under it at 6:00 AM.

This "NH" is not New Hampshire, it's North Harbor in Baltimore.

Coming into Baltimore the fog cleared and the Francis Scott Key Bridge
was clearly visible from almost two miles away! By 9:30 we were snugged up in
Slip C13 at Anchorage Marina.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Sunday was not a day of rest. We left Pungo Creek at 0655 and made it all
the way to Buck Island in the North River.
Close to the North Carolina/Virginia border and an 80 mile day in
all! We can almost see the barn from
here.

The calm before that THUMP!

Well past that now.

And it was an eventful day, as well.If Saturday was a day for long pants (the
first since January) and a winter coat (where was that stowed?), Sunday had
warm socks and hot oatmeal for breakfast added.How do people survive in these frigid climates?It was 58 degrees when we got underway!
BRRRRRR!!

We did some pretty fast sailing in the Alligator River and
then again up the North River in howling winds as high as 26 knots.That helped us accomplish a lot of miles
before we anchored at about 5:45 PM.

Sail Up and speeding along.

Even though we missed an Alligator Bridge opening by a mile
and a half, the most excellent of Bridge Tenders gave that a no never-mind and
opened for us as soon as we made it to the bridge.No bridge delay at all.That makes for a good day.

All of the Aids to Navigation host Osprey nests with baby chicks.

And who should we see in the Alligator River/Pungo River
Canal?Our friends from s/v Messenger?
s/v Autumn Borne? s/v Painkiller? s/v Last Boat? s/v ANYTHING? No, no, no, a
thousand times NO!

This time, I had a plan.We cranked it up from 2800 RPMs to 3200 RPMs.We shook a bit.But we passed Royal Engineer without
incident.

Passing Lane.

You can't script this stuff.

And we kept that motor revved
up for the next twenty minutes in order to put distance between us.We did not see that monster again!

Until we meet again?

Blowing stink, as one would say, when we got to Buck
Island.But we were content.Anchored in 10 feet of water with 90 feet of
chain.Within inches of where we
anchored in October 2013 on the way back from the Bahamas.Let it blow.

Monday, May 5, 2014.A business day.All
business.

Depth perception issues without contacts.

We have only 56 miles left to
reach our Mile Marker Zero destination.But; .. and that’s a big BUT.We
cross into Virginia at Mile Marker 36 after crossing the narrow and blustery
Currituck Sound.

We then have the North Landing Bridge at Mile Marker 20 opening
on the Hour and Half Hour.No problem.

Next, we have the Centerville Turnpike Bridge at Mile Marker
15 opening on the Hour and Half Hour.That’s five mile for us to make in 30 minutes.A tough slog for which I planned to use my
Royal Engineer stratagem (3200 RPMs).But,… we are immediately foiled by a Montreal Motoryacht that apparently
takes “no wake” seriously as they virtually stop as they move through the
bridge and for the next what?! Mile??We
are delayed a half hour at the Centerville Turnpike Bridge.

The Great Bridge Bridge (no typo there) is at Mile Marker
12.Only three miles away and opening
only on the Hour.We make it by jumping
ahead of m/y Montreal.Other sailboats
in our line (four or five by now) have also caught on and pass this rule
follower.

We make it into the Great Bridge Lock at Mile Marker 11.5
ahead of the pack.That means we can run
to the Steel Bridge at Mile Marker 8.8 to make the next on the Hour
opening?No such luck.A bridge delay again.

Tess calls the last bridge.The notorious Gilmerton Bridge.Well known for being in the closed position from 6:30 AM to 9:30 AM and
again from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM.Talk
about bridge delays!!Tess’
question?Can you confirm that you have
a 4:00 opening as well as a 3:30 opening?We know the answer.No.It’s 3:30 or 5:30.It’s Mile Marker 5.8.Only three miles, but since we left the Great
Bridge Lock we are now in Virginia Tidewaters.That means, we are fighting a real tide again.Yikes!

Royal Engineer stratagem.We outrun the pack.We make the
Gilmerton with four minutes to spare!We
are good.We are there.

We mosey down the Elizabeth River.Norfolk on one side.Portsmouth on the other.The rain starts.The wind picks up.But, we are almost there.Tidewater Yacht Marina.Portsmouth, Virginia.Mile Marker Zero.Slip F24 (only three slips in from the end).No problem.

Problem.With the
wind pushing the bow one way and the current pushing the stern the other, I
miss the turn into the slip.Back and
fill.Back and fill.Back and fill.No progress.Head down the slipway and make (or try to make) a turn.Again.Back and fill.Back and
fill.Back and fill.Finally!

This time, heading into both the wind and current, we slide
into F24.Only one post bumped.But that’s what they are for.

We are fried.Frazzled.But safely
ensconced.1,200 plus miles in nine
days.But, home.Or close enough to feel like home.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Arrived at Charleston and anchored at 0500 on Tuesday. Three good hours to catch up on sleep and then the coffee was made. Looked across the the anchorage and was surprised to be looking at s/v Dalmatian (Tom & MaryLou) from Durham, NH!! They stopped by at about 0900 to say "hello" as they headed to a medical clinic to check on an odd bug bite that Tom had (and rightly feared might be dangerous - any injury on a boat can get infected really quickly).

We hope Tom is all right since we left Charleston at 1030 without further adieu. A tender from a Megayacht on the Megadock came over to inform us that his MegaCaptain believed we were dragging. We weren't, but as the tide and wind changed we did swing into the channel a bit (150 feet of chain at 5:00 in the morning after three days offshore; it's hard to judge where you might end up!). Rather than move, we decided to leave. Hard to pass up Shrimp & Grits in Charleston, but we know we'll be back.

We made great time across Charleston Harbor and into the ICW. Our very first Lift Bridge was, thankfully, "on demand". Tuesday night was spent in Minim Creek, one of our favorite ICW anchorages. Marsh and shore birds galore, fish jumping, tall reeds giving us a protected, secret garden feeling. Just nice. Next morning, we glided past Georgetown SC and put our head sail,out to add a boost into the beautiful Waccamaw River. Scenic as a State Farm calendar!

Our second night was in Calabash Creek on the South Carolina/North Carolina border. One of our least favorite ICW anchorages. Too narrow. Too shallow. But our third time here. We ran aground entering the Creek. Rookie mistake. Must be too tired. But we managed to back off and take the proper route into the Creek. Only one other boat there. Great! Plenty of room. But, dead low tide. Be careful. Anchor down. We stop. Sideways. Aground again. Is a pattern developing? We negotiate off our shoal and try again. Hope the neighbors aren't watching (who wouldn't?). This anchorage is more like stopping to sleep in a local 7-11 parking lot. All the charm of a place to sleep and nothing more.

We were successfully anchored by 5 PM. And, one of us at least, in bed by 8:00. Two groundings within ten minutes is enough for some. That one was up by 4:00 AM and calculated that, to assure a favorable tide in the Cape Fear River we needed to be on the road (so to speak) by 0545. An alarm was set for 0530. At which time it remained extremely dark. Another alarm for 0545. And we were off anchor by 0615.

The plan worked! We needed to clear the Cape Fear River and get into Snow's Cut (which leads us back into the ICW proper) by 12:30 in order to avoid the ebb tide in the River. We actually hit the ICW at 12:15 even with our 30 minute morning delay. That felt great! "Delay"?!? Did he really just say a 6:15 departure was a Delay???

And once in the ICW we had a Southerly ocean breeze so we again put up the headsail and added an extra knot (at least) to our motoring speed. It felt good to be a sailboat again.

Wrightsville Beach Bridge opening at 1500. Figure Eight Bridge opening at 1600. We were on a tear! Until 1615. Hard aground with a "THUMP". We went from a consistent 12 foot depth onto a 4 foot deep shoal in an instant. No warning. Black Mud Channel at Green 99A. No way to motor or sail off. "Oh, yeah", says SeaTow. "You'll be our second or third one today at that spot".

We were off again in an hour, but too exhausted to proceed much further. Luckily we were within a few miles of Harbour Village Marina in Hampstead, NC and Mike, the Harbormaster, was still there when we called just before 5:00. We re-fueled and then pulled into a slip. Hot showers. Italian Restaurant dinner delivered to the boat. And we made 75 miles that day. Not bad, even with the bumpy ending.

The irony of the grounding is that when it happened I was on the phone with my marine insurance broker (talking about another customer's issues). When THUMP happened, I threw the phone down, let the headsail sheet fly from the winch and jumped up to see where we were. Five minutes later I remembered the phone and called the agent back (after calling SeaTow) to explain the sudden chaos and disconnect. New Rule: Never talk to a boat insurance agent when the boat is moving.

Friday brought us to Swansboro after a slow day with adverse currents (never even reaching a 6 knot boat speed) and more scary, shallow shoals (including one bump). Damn Spring Tides! We were spent by 3:00 PM and happy to start napping at a secure anchorage. Only 38 miles, but we'll make it up somewhere. He says "napping"...

Well,...we did get a good night's sleep. Like, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 AM. each with a short break to grab a small bite to eat.

But, we were off the anchor at 6:25 to take advantage of the Bogue Sound tide. A long way to Morehead City, but we made the Neuse River by 12:15. The Neuse was dead calm and glassy, but with a favorable tide giving us 7 plus knots. That meant we had up to another 7 1/2 hours of daylight! And that took us all the way across the Pamlico River and up the Pungo to Belhaven. We were at anchor in Pungo Creek by 6:30. A long day, but still well rested. Also, a 93 mile day. Making up for short-changing Friday.

No good cellphone or internet reception here. But Norfolk looks like it's only two days away.